


if it feels good (then it must be)

by idontshaveforsher_yesyoudo



Series: the queer and wondrous life of peter parker [3]
Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Crack, Developing Friendships, F/M, Gen, Humor, M/M, Multi, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Underage Drinking, but it could be compliant w the last work of this series, can be read as gen but can be read as p much whatever pairing you want, lots of texting, queer kids, shuri and bucky are friends !!, this is a STANDALONE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 18:56:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17452532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idontshaveforsher_yesyoudo/pseuds/idontshaveforsher_yesyoudo
Summary: Peter: hey do u know that vine that goes ‘how did u take down captain america’ –‘we shot him in ze legs bc his shield is the size of a dinnerplate and hes an idiot’Shuri: course whyPeter: well i found out today that thats mr barnes’ ringtone i’m dYINGor, shuri hates new york, peter is friends with everyone and everyone is queer





	if it feels good (then it must be)

**Author's Note:**

> hey its me again with a Queer Spiderman Fic ! i love my qids (queer kids)
> 
> they're about 17 i guess (and i'm ignoring infinity wars bc... i still havent seen it tbh)
> 
> feedback always much appreciated ! unbetaed, so if you catch an error pls tell me its late & i havent proofread this
> 
> title from a song by leon bridges thats !!! rly good !!

 

Once the Outreach Centre in California is finished, T’Challa decides that they should build another one in New York City. And since Shuri is (in his opinion) a ‘seventeen-year-old brat’ she should be the one to supervise the planning and constructing.

And Shuri, dumb as she can be sometimes, listens to his description of ‘it’ll be like a year abroad, you’ll be like an exchange student! And imagine how exciting living in New York will be!’ and then agrees to doing it because, frankly, it does sound kind of exciting.

She has changed her mind since then.

New York, she muses as she walks down a rainy street and barely manages to escape getting soaked by a car driving through a puddle, is disgusting and loud and cold and annoying. And she is kind of, maybe, a bit lonely.

Lonely enough that she has a standing lunch date every Tuesday with her Favourite Broken White Boy (at least that’s how he’s saved in her phone) James Barnes himself at a café in Brooklyn. A lunch date that she is currently ten minutes late to because she missed the subway and had to take a later one and her usual walking route is blocked by construction work so she had to take a ten minute detour and her new sneakers are getting soaked (and dirty) and she really, really hates New York.

(When she finally opens the door to her favourite place in all of New York five minutes later and exhales the smell of fresh coffee she hates the city a tiny bit less.)

She looks around and spots James already sitting at a table near a window, walks over and throws herself down into the seat opposite him.

“Whaddup!”

James looks up from the magazine he’s reading and grins at her. “Hey, Shuri. How’s your day?”

She scowls and he grins even wider.

“Can’t handle New York weather?”

“New York weather fucking sucks.”

James closes the magazine and puts it into his bag. Shuri notes that it’s The Rolling Stone. (It’s a new one every week because he’s ‘tryna catch up on things’. Lately it’s been mostly music-related magazines.)

“Well, I already ordered your favourite, that oughta cheer you up.”

“Did you order the chicken – “

“Extra spicy, yeah. With fries and all.”

Shuri’s frown slowly slips from her face. “Thanks, dude.”

James smiles. “ _’Dude’_. You’re starting to sound American.”

“ _Fuck you_ ” she says in Xhosa.

“ _Quiet, pup_ ” he replies and for a moment Shuri regrets teaching him her language.

They start chatting about what they’ve been up to this week and once their food arrives and Shuri takes the first bite of her chicken sandwich (extra spicy) she forgets all about the weather outside and listens to James telling a story of how the Mighty Captain America™ himself got chased through a park by three angry Rottweilers he had tried to make friends with.

 

\--

 

Lunch with James cheered her up a bit, but when Shuri is sitting in her office later that afternoon, it all comes down on her again. (Yes, she has an office, and no, she doesn’t know why either.)

It’s not that the planning hasn’t been fun, if sometimes a bit repetitive, and she really does think that the Outreach Centre is going to be dope, but while she met a lot of different people throughout the process she still doesn’t really know anyone her age in New York.

It’s starting to get boring visiting museums on her own and going to the cinema alone and sometimes she’d like to go out at night like she did in Wakanda, which would be an easy way to meet new people, but she really doesn’t feel like besting the nightly streets of New York all on her own. It’s not that she’s scared easily but since she is a rational person she doesn’t have a good feeling about being a young woman all on her own out at night in a city like New York. And even if that wasn’t the problem, she wouldn’t be able to get into any bars anyway because legal drinking age in the States is twenty-one, unlike in Wakanda, where it’s sixteen.

So, she’s just kind of lonely a lot of the time and it gives her a bad mood and life fucking sucks.

(New York fucking sucks.)

 

\--

 

The next Tuesday she gets a text from James in the morning.

**Fav Broken White Boi** : is it ok if I bring someone today? I’m on baby-sitting duty…

**Shuri** : sure but only if its this guy

**Shuri** : <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHADGZ54hTg>

**Fav Broken White Boi** : I wish

**Fav Broken White Boi** : it’s just some annoying kid you’ll like him

**Shuri** : hmmm and whys that

**Fav Broken White Boi** : hes a nerd. just like you. and shouldn’t you be working right now?

**Shuri** : (Attachment: perhaps_cow.img)

 

\--

 

When she gets to the café (she’s not late and the sun is shining, so Shuri doesn’t hate New York all too much today) James and his mysterious friend aren’t there yet so she sits down and orders her usual Ginger Lemon Iced Tea.

She scrolls through Twitter until she notices James nearing a few minutes later. At his side is a teenager with messy brown hair and hands that wave about the air while he talks. A look at James’ face tells her that he neither understands what the guy is telling him nor seems to care very much. He sits down in his usual chair and the teenager pulls up a chair to sit between James and Shuri.

James lazily moves his hand between them.

“Peter, Shuri. Shuri, Peter. She’s a princess, so don’t annoy her or she’ll have your head, Petey-boy.”

Shuri has to hide her grin as the guy – Peter – blushes bright red and starts stuttering.

“Your Majesty – Miss – Ma’am – “

Shuri huffs out a laugh. “Chill out. Don’t believe everything James tells you.”

James winks at them both. “You two entertain yourself, I’m gonna go order our food.” He stands up to go to the counter but pauses to add “Pup, ask him about the robot he’s building. He’s been chatting off my ear all morning and I’m sure you’re a better audience than me.”

Peter perks up at this and Shuri has to hide her own excitement. A guy her age _and_ someone who knows a bit of stuff about robotics? This just got interesting.

Peter opens his mouth a bit, closes it again, then starts speaking. “Hang on, are you really a princess? Or was Mr. Barnes just trying to annoy me?”

Shuri laughs. “Oh boy. You call him Mr. Barnes?”

Peter frowns. “What, you don’t? What else am I supposed to call him?”

“Um, James? You know, his name?” Peter’s brow furrows and Shuri continues, “And by the way, yes, I am a princess. Ever heard of Wakanda?”

This makes Peter’s eyes pop wide open. “Wakanda? Are you T’challas sister? Holy shit, am I talking to the Black Panther’s sister right now?”

“Yup, the one and only!” Shuri grins at him.

“Ohmygod, really? That’s so cool! Wait till MJ hears about this, she’s gonna freak! Well, not freak, because she’s cool, you know, but I’m sure she’d love to meet you! Holy shit she’s gonna be so excited!”

“Hang on, calm down, buddy. Who the fuck is MJ?”

(Shuri shouldn’t’ve asked because Peter starts rambling about this girl for ten minutes. Apparently, she’s the coolest person in New York, and if Shuri is reading Peter right he’s got a huge crush on her.)

When Bucky joins them with half of their food, a server from the café bringing the rest on a tray, he groans. “Is he talking about MJ again? I swear to god, that kid doesn’t know when to shut the fuck up.”

Peter stops rambling and blushes. “Sorry.”

Shuri gratefully accepts her chicken sandwich (extra spicy) that James hands her. “You’re adorable. Now tell me about that robot.”

This makes Peter grin again and between bites from his chicken sandwich (very much not spicy) he tells her about a robot he’s building with Tony Stark, because apparently, he knows Tony Stark for some reason that no-one explains to Shuri.

(And while the sun shines in through the window and Peter rambles on and laughs about Shuri’s suggestion for a problem he hasn’t solved yet and James makes snarky comments every now and then but grins at the two of them, Shuri changes her mind.

She doesn’t hate New York at all. She’s actually starting to like it.)

 

\--

 

Two days later has Shuri awake at two am for some reason.

She’s scrolling through her Twitter and contemplating how much she hates New York when a video crosses her feed that seems interesting.

It’s from an account that seems to pose as that Spider-Man that has been on the streets of New York for a couple of years now and the video shows New York from above, filmed from the roof of a skyscraper. It’s captioned ‘nyc i love u’ and as Shuri stares as the city on the screen is lit up she kind of gets the appeal. It does look beautiful.

Out of interest (or boredom) she clicks on the profile and quickly realises that this seems to be the real Spider-Man because while half of the account is filled with memes, the other half are photos and videos that apply to a specific request, like ‘do a backflip while wearing sunglasses on top of a high building’ or ‘take a pic of a kebab and an orange while sitting on the Statue of Liberty’s head’.

The guy’s tweets are actually funny, Shuri has to admit, and it’s no mystery why he has almost three million followers.

She follows him and exits his profile, scrolling through her timeline again. When she reaches the top and refreshes, there’s a new tweet from the spider-guy.

**@doeswhatthespidercan** : holy shit you guys ??? the princess of Wakanda just followed me ?? actual royalty is following me ?? hi @memeprincessshuri if u see this ur dope af !! thanks !!

**@memeprincessshuri** : @doeswhatthespidercan bruh, calm down! relaxation!

**@doeswhatthespidercan** : what even is life

 

\--

 

She gets a text from James the next morning. At first Shuri is confused because it’s not one of his usual cute dog videos or a picture of whatever him and Steve are up to that day. (They go to a lot of parks. And museums. They’re basically living the 90-year-old couple stereotype, only that they look a lot better than most 90-year-old couples.)

Instead, he tells her that Peter asked for her number and if it’s okay if he passes it on, which, you know, she lowkey digs him actually caring about her consent. Screw Captain America, it’s James who’s the real gentleman here.

She tells him it’s chill and no more than five minutes later an unknown number texts her.

**Unknown** : hi !! i got ur number from mr barnes ! how are you ??

**Unknown** : this is petef btw !

**Unknown** : *peter

**Shuri** : hi petef!

**Petef** : i regret everything .

**Shuri** : :)))

**Petef** : :(

**Petef** : hey do u know that vine that goes ‘how did u take down captain america’ –‘we shot him in ze legs bc his shield is the size of a dinnerplate and hes an idiot’

**Shuri** : course why

**Petef** : well i found out today that thats mr barnes’ ringtone i’m dYING

**Shuri** : omg what rly??

**Petef** : yah i showed it to him a few weeks back and now this..

**Shuri** : lmao

**Shuri** : howd you two meet anyway? aren’t you like, stark’s kid??

**Petef** : hmm yah funny story

**Petef** : i was hanging out at the tower once and then mr rogers & mr barnes came in

**Petef** : and mr rogers was there to talk to mr stark so me n barnes hung out .. and now i’m kind of the unofficial kid of the avengers ?? like theyre all parenting me 24/7 ?? and i have lunch w mr rogers sometimes ?? its weird

**Petef** : and obv i have lunch w mr barnes sometimes

**Shuri** : lol

**Shuri** : leave it to you to get adopted by the fudkcing avengers

**Petef** : ikr life is strange !

 

\--

 

Shuri and Peter start texting. It’s fun.

Peter is awake at the weirdest of times and he texts her random science facts and rambles on about his day and his two best friends and/or crushes (she hasn’t figured that out quite yet) in voice messages and Shuri makes fun of him and tells him about the work she’s done that day and asks how his robot is coming together. They develop a friendship based on their shared interests in science and memes and the fact that they both have overbearing superheroes in their lives.

Shuri finds out that Peter lives with his aunt and is somewhat an adopted son of Tony Stark and that he idolises the guy, but in a late-night discussion at four am he confesses that he’s aware that the guy’s done some shitty things in the past. Shuri, who’s spent a lot of time with James and is kind of partial to her Favourite Broken White Boy, is glad that her new friend is not a total idiot. One time the conversation moves to the topic of James and Steve and Shuri notes that Peter idolises them both (especially the Mighty Captain America™) just like he does Tony Stark.

One time she asks him about what he thinks about what was dubbed the ‘civil war’ of the Avengers and he gets weirdly evasive, not really taking any sides. Which is something that Shuri likes, because in her opinion the whole thing was unnecessary and the fact that the only way they could resolve their problems was, apparently, fighting it out in an airport in Germany is kind of ridiculous to her. Especially seeing as those are the people protecting earth.

(She also has a suspicion that Peter is the reason for the slowly thawing ice between Stark and Rogers. She asks him about it and gets a stutter of ‘haha no way, they just started talking again and both realised they did some wrong things, no way that’s on me!’

When she asks James during their next lunch date, he confirms her suspicion.

“Don’t tell him I said so, but you’re definitely on to something. At least on Stark’s side he’s responsible for him to get his head out of his ass. And Steve, well, as much as I love him we both know he can be a stubborn asshole. I don’t know what Peter said to him exactly, but one day Steve came back from meeting up with the boy for coffee and the next thing I know is him and Stark are back on talking terms again.”

Shuri decides that that’s enough for her right now and that she’ll investigate later.)

 

\--

 

_(Text conversation starting at 2:42 am)_

**Shuri** : yooo did you see the documentary on hippos tonight

**Petef** : omg no ??? was it good ?

**Shuri** : (Attachment: hippo_baby_trying_to_swim.mp4)

**Petef** : holy shit ??? i want one can u get me one ?

**Petef** : ur like, loaded, right? can u get me a baby hippy ??

**Petef** : *hippy

**Petef** : *hippo fUCk

**Shuri** : hippy lmao

**Shuri** : nah i cant get u a hippy

**Petef** : :(

**Petef** : bro i wanna be a hippo so bad

**Shuri** : oh worm?

**Shuri** : also i had lunch w james today and heard something interesting

**Shuri** : Steve Rogers Captain America™ himself caught u with weed ?????

**Petef** : omfgdkd

**Shuri** : how?? did that happened?

**Petef** : dlkfkdjfkjks i fucked up

**Petef** : it wasnt even mine i just had some of MJs in my jacket

**Shuri** : adkfkdjf and what did Rogers say??

**Petef** : he gave me the Frown of Disappointment™

**Shuri** : skdjfkdjkfj omg

**Petef** : but i think its not that bad he didnt rly scold me or stg

**Shuri** : u know what james said tho

**Shuri** : when thor brings asgardian drugs n stuff rogers the one who smokes/drinks most

**Petef** : what omd ???

**Shuri** : ikr the whole pretentiousness is just an act bc hes Captain Smerica ™

**Petef** : omg what

**Petef** : amazing

**Petef** : i wanna get high w captain america tho

**Shuri** : Big Fucking Mood

 

\--

 

One day, Spider-Man posts a picture on his twitter and tags Shuri in it.

It’s a selfie he took with Black Panther that’s clearly a few months old (Shuri has updated her brother’s suit twice since then). The caption says,

**@doeswhatthespidercan** : @memeprincessshuri look what i found in my cameraroll, youre not the only wakandan royal i know !!’

Shuri grins and it doesn’t take long for her to post her reply.

**@memeprincessshuri** : @doeswhatthespidercan ohh but i'm the best royal you know!

 

\--

 

Shuri meets Peter’s best friends and/or crushes on a sunny Wednesday afternoon.

She waits for them at a café near their school and is just halfway through her herbal tea when the three of them tumble inside. Peter introduces them with a bright smile: Ned, who’s smiling just as big and rambles on excitedly about how awesome it is to meet actual royalty, and MJ, who elbows him and quirks her lips in amusement but seems just as happy being here.

Peter runs off to get coffee (and Shuri’s usual tea) for everyone. Shuri wants to decline but MJ slides into the booth to sit next to her and slaps her shoulder.

“Just get something. Peter uses Stark’s credit card for this stuff, so you don’t have to feel bad.”

She grins at Shuri and Shuri grins back. It seems like they’re gonna be great friends.

Ned sits down on the other side of the table and looks from one girl to the other, then focuses on Shuri.

“So, you’re Peter’s new friend.”

Shuri frowns and turns to MJ. “Why does it feel like I’m being interrogated right now?”

“Just let him do his thing.” MJ shrugs, but looks on in interest.

Ned continues. “Have you seen Star Wars?”

MJ groans. Shuri ignores her and answers,

“I mean, who hasn’t?”

“Hm.” Ned nods. “What’s your favourite song right now?”

Shuri purses her lips. “Something by Frank Ocean, probably.”

Ned nods again. “And what is your stance on the whole Iron Man vs Captain America debacle? I mean, they’re on the way to being friends again, but I know that your brother changed sides somewhere in-between, what do you think about the whole thing?”

“What does this have to do with anything?”

“Just wanna check, because Peter’s stuck between them and if you’re clearly on one side then that might hurt him.”

“In that case… I don’t even really wanna take a side, I just think they should’ve talked it out like the grown men they are and not demolish an airport in Germany.”

MJ snorts next to her. “That’s what I’ve been saying all along.”

Ned grins. “Yeah, me too. But don’t tell Peter that, he has a lot of feelings about the fight.”

Shuri looks at them in confusion and Ned continues, “It’s like a brutal divorce with Peter as the kid stuck between his parents. With the exception that Peter didn’t really know either of his parents until about three minutes before the fight.”

MJ snorts. Shuri feels like she’s missing something but decides not to dig.

“Where’s Peter, anyway?” She looks up and Peter takes that moment to appear with a tray of drinks and collapses on the bench next to Ned.

He buries his head in his arms and says something muffled.

MJ looks on, unimpressed, and starts to distribute the mugs. “Care to repeat that, Peter?”

Peter raises his head a bit, hair sticking out in every direction.

“Gay culture is falling in love with a barista in the five minutes it takes for you to order and him to make your drinks.”

Ned laughs and Shuri huffs, surprised. (It’s not that she hasn’t had a hunch about Peter being queer, but it’s something else to have confirmation.)

“Was he buff? Long hair? Deep Voice?” MJ asks with a smirk on her lips.

Peter groans and grabs his coffee. “All three.”

Ned laughs again and turns to Shuri. “This is nothing. You should see how he acts around Thor. He has the _biggest_ crush on that guy.”

“Et tu, Brutus?”

Peter glares at all three of them. Ned coos and ruffles his hair.

“Sorry, babe.”

Shuri watches as Peter

  1. Blushes an adorable pink,
  2. Cuddles into Ned’s side with his coffee clenched to his chest,
  3. Pokes out his tongue at MJ and says,
  4. “Now look who’s getting Ned-cuddles out of this.”



There’s a soft smile on MJ’s face. Shuri’s eyes flicker from one to the other and she realises something. There’s definitely something more than just friendship going on here.

 

\--

**@doeswhatthespidercan** : swinging through queens & almost hitting a building bc ur thinking abt Captain Americas Abs™ is queer culture

**@jbbarnesofficial** : @doeswhatthespidercan how many times this month is that? also, do i see you betraying your no. 1 thor ??

**@doeswhatthespidercan** : @jbbarnesofficial never !  thor will always be no. 1 ( no offense @steverogersofficial )

**@steverogersofficial** : none taken, I think we all get why Thor is your number 1.

 

**@doeswhatthespidercan** : and yes you heard right , #SpiderManIsQueer

**@memeprincessshuri** : @doeswhatthespidercan of course you are, no straight guy would wear spandex that tight.

**@MJistired** : @memeprincessshuri @doeswhatthespidercan HA fucking OWNED !!!!

 

\--

_(Text conversation starting at 1:02 am)_

**Shuri** : gay culture is watching brooklyn 99 & being in love w p much everyone from the precinct.

**Petef** : lmaoooo Big Mood

**Petef** : gay culture is lying awake at 1am thinking abt how moonlight underrated was

**Shuri** : oh worm

**Shuri** : or, as the germans would say: oh wurm

**Petef** : adskfjkdjf what ?? is that the german for worm ?

**Shuri** : yah.

**Petef** : oh ver ( french )

**Shuri** : oh imbungu (xhosa)

**Petef** : dfkdjkfjdkfs omg

**Petef** : on a different note : ur gay ?

**Shuri** : yah

**Shuri** : like, idk abt ‘gay’ but i’m defo queer.

**Petef** : noooiiiceeee

**Petef** : i had my suspicions but like… ya know

**Shuri** : hm ik

**Petef** : same tho.

**Petef** : like, i’m queer.

**Petef** : pan, actually

**Shuri** : toit!

**Shuri** : thought it when i saw u w mj & ned ;;;;;)

**Petef** : huh

**Petef** : yea theyre pretty great

**Shuri** : dawwww

**Petef** : shut the eff up

**Shuri** : :) 

 

\-- 

 

Suddenly, Shuri’s life is busy.

She goes to museums with Peter, sees new movies with Ned, accompanies MJ to an anti-Trump-protest, hangs out with the three of them after they’re finished with school for the day. Peter invites her over to Stark’s lab, where they build a cute little robot whose only function is to find Barnes, raise a middle finger and say ‘fuck you’.

A few weeks later, the three of them take her to a party of a guy they know from decathlon (he seems kind of a dick when they arrive, but MJ drags her along to the bar and Shuri figures that the free alcohol is worth it).

They get spectacularly drunk that night.

Shuri is surprised that Ned is the first one to start giggling, shortly followed by MJ. It takes Shuri another hour to start slurring her words, and Peter, whom she would’ve thought the lightweight of the group, is only just beginning to laugh at everything by the time MJ and Ned are already laying on the front lawn of the obnoxious house they’re at, discussing something philosophical like ‘what if cats were as big as Godzilla’.

As soon as Peter is properly tipsy, it only takes two more shots of Tequila for him to drop down next to where Shuri is sitting on a lawn chair and grin at the sky dopily.

“You okay, nerd?” She asks, words not as clear as she’d hoped, but everything is soft and blurry and her body is buzzing and she really doesn’t care.

Peter turns his head to look at her, blinks a few times, grins. “I sure am! I’m the okayest!”

“I don’t think that’s a word.” Shuri frowns. “Hey M-” the M drags out on her lips because it feels funny “-J, is okaysest a word?”

MJ looks up from her spot on the grass and mumbles, “okaysest, okaysestest, most okayest? I think you have to say you’re the most okayest.”

Shuri and Peter nod in agreement. It sounds reasonable, because whatever MJ says always sounds reasonable.

(A little later they call an Uber and all drive off to Shuri’s place, which is where they’re gonna stay tonight because there’s no annoying parents keeping watch. They almost have to carry Ned up the stairs because he’s too tired to walk himself and when they’re finally all spread out on the mattresses in Shuri’s living room under their covers Peter suddenly starts giggling.

“Hey, guys, you know what?”

“What?”

“I’m Spider-Man!”

Shuri scoffs.“Go the fuck to sleep, Parker.”

One last giggle from MJ and they’re all fast asleep.)

 

 -- 

 

Three days later has Shuri sitting at her usual spot in her favourite place in all of NYC with her favourite food in front of her.

James is telling her of the kind of disastrous team-building meal they had the other day with some of the Avengers and she’s chuckling along as he talks.

“So, Stark and Steve are getting up in each other’s business again, and I’m just about to intervene when Peter walks in completely unaware of what’s going on. He sits down and grabs a plate and rambles on about being sorry that he’s late and his hair is sticking in every direction and you should’ve seen the two of them.” He takes a bite of his food, then continues, “Two adult men both practically melting at this teenager who talks with his mouth full. So basically, they stopped fighting immediately and I don’t wanna give the kid too much credit or it’ll go to his head, but he is probably the only reason why they haven’t blown New York up yet.”

Shuri snorts. “Sounds like Peter.”

“You tell me. That kid is so much like Steve before he was, you know,” he waves around his fork, “this big, American beefcake. Tiny and too good for the world but also ready to throw down any minute and _constantly_ in trouble.”

Shuri frowns. “Peter? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him fight.”

James’ eyebrows rise. “Oh. _Oh_!”

“What?”

“Ask him about that himself. Not my thing to tell.” 

 

\-- 

 

She’s still wondering about what Peter could possibly be doing that she doesn’t know off when she walks home later that day.She does know that sometimes, he leaves suddenly when they’re hanging out, usually because his aunt texted him or something. And it is kind of weird that he’s friends with all the Avengers, but it still feels like she’s missing something.

She’s thinking about that when there’s a loud crash on the street near her.

She jumps and stares on as a weird-looking robot throws a car in the air and rips out a few lamp-posts, and she’s just about to text James to get his ass here to handle the situation when there’s a flash of red.

The red thing starts swinging around the robot and she realizes that it’s the Spider-Man guy she follows on twitter. Before she can properly focus on what’s going on the robot is pretty much stuck to the ground and the Spider-Man pulls off it’s chunky head, revealing a guy sat inside.

The Spider-Man ties the guy to the robot and, just as the first police cars pull up, gets up from where he was sat on the robot. He salutes at one of the officers and looks around at the crowd. When he spots Shuri on the edge of it his eyes (or the eyes of his suit, at least) grow wide.

He shoots a web out, swings above her head and shouts, “Oh, hey, Shuri! See you later!”

Shuri frowns. She knows that voice. Suddenly, everything makes sense. 

 

\-- 

 

**@memeprincessshuri** : saw @doeswhatthespidercan today. the spandex really is as tight as it looks in the pictures

**@doeswhatthespidercan** : @memeprincessshuri oh thats what youre focusing on ??

**@memeprincessshuri** : @doeswhatthespidercan hmm yyeah it scarred me for life. also did u know that you tweet the way you text? like u always type the same way

**@doeswhatthespidercan** : @memeprincessshuri course i do i’m the same person ??? lol

**@jbbarnesofficial** : @memeprincessshuri it took you way too long to figure that out

**@memeprincessshuri** : @jbbarnesofficial mka le

**@jbbarnesofficial** : @memeprincessshuri mhle 

 

\-- 

 

A little after five, Shuri enters the best café near Midtown High and slips into their usual booth. Ned and MJ are already there.

Ned grins at her. “You figured it out, didn’t you?”

“I’m honestly surprised it took you so long.”

Shuri scrunches up her nose. “So am I, to be honest.”

In that moment, Peter burst through the door with messy hair and flushed cheeks. His white T-Shirt clearly shows off multiple bruises on his arms that he definitely didn’t have yesterday (and an abnormal amount of muscles for someone their age). He waves at them and then goes up to the counter to get his coffee.

The hot barista with the long hair is at the till and the three of them watch on as Peter blushes even more and stutters his way through his order.

Shuri sighs.“He’s hopeless, isn’t he?”

MJ huffs out a laugh. “Utterly. Why do we hang out with him again?”

“Leave him be, guys,” Ned adds. “At least he’s cute.”

Shuri snorts at that, just as Peter walks up to their table. “Glad to know you’ve got your priorities straight.”

Peter gives her a questioning look as he places down his cup and slides into the booth next to MJ. “I don’t know what you guys are talking about, but I don’t think any of us have our priorities _straight_.”

MJ grins. “Ah, yes, the queer priorities: coffee, hot baristas and rolled up jeans.”

“Don’t forget shirts with shitty puns on them!”

Peter pokes out his tongue at Shuri. “Don’t call me out like this.”

“Peter, your shirt _literally_ says, ‘lettuce be friends’.” 

 

(Peter and Ned start bickering and MJ throws pieces of her napkin at them and everyone starts kicking each other underneath the table. The whole scene is painted in the setting sun and the lights of the city and the soft music playing over the speakers of the café and the cars honking outside in the usual after-work traffic.

Shuri can’t help but smile.

New York isn’t bad at all. It’s actually pretty dope.)

**Author's Note:**

> i used google translate for the xhosa bits i'm sorry if its wrong !!! 
> 
> mka le = fuck off  
> mhle = cute
> 
> also if you havent seen the captain america vine?? here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD50Mtrr-VY


End file.
